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Lavender Brown
Lavender is the classic case of good girl gone bad. She is a werewolf and war criminal. She also has witch's senses that tingle. It's sort of like Spidey Sense but this may be easily avoided through the proper application of prophylactics. __TOC__ Lavender Olivia Brown Nicknames/Aliases: Lav, Ven, Lob. Never, ever Lav-Lav and will actually hex anyone who calls her that—it’s not cute. Occupation: A member of the network, Lavender hasn't really found her place in the organisation yet. She has demonstrated an aptitude as a forger, with her keen eye for detail, but also participates in a number of odd jobs. Home: Lavender co-owns a converted barn in Dartmoor. Co-owns as in her sister, Lane, really owns the majority of it but Lavender lives there as a kind of housekeeper. She’s well aware that it’s a form of charity, but the land with the property is extremely good for her. She also owns another property, in London, but she refuses to go into it. It's being used as a storage facility, basically, at the moment. Finances: Rather poor, bordering on insufficient. A lot of the money which Lavender does make is put into a bank account with a high interest rate--she is saving up to pay her sister back for the money which she paid on the property, though Lane has never shared with her the amount and has refused in the past to take any money Lavender tries to directly give her back. Household: When Lavender first moved in, she made a sort of pact with herself that nothing would live with her. However, Lane has forced pets upon her (most of which have come to tolerate her presence through necessity, really, and not much else) and occasionally Lane and her small family will stay at the Dartmoor property as well. The pets are Soot, a white rabbit, Daffy, a black rabbit, Sonia (which Lavender thinks is a stupid name for a dog) an Alsatian and David the cat. There are a few horses on the property, but Lavender doesn’t go near them. Family Mother: Ellie Brown, née Campbell, born Eleanor but so rarely called it she may as well not have the name; she does not even sign it on forms. Ellie was raised a strict Catholic, in a large family of strict Catholics. Her brother abused her sexually which made her distant and closed off. Daniel was the first person she really let in and she has a very hard time letting Lavender in, due to the fact that Lavender always expressed nothing but love for her uncle and spent a lot of time around him. She worked as a nurse for the majority of her working life and then switched to hospital administration when putting her back out meant she could no longer lift and take care of patients adequately. Fifty-four years old, birthday is on the 7th October. Father: Daniel Brown, a renowned despiser of nicknames despite his tendency to give everyone else them. For generations, the Browns had owned and operated a farm and Daniel carried on the tradition--it is expected that Lavender will inherit the farm when her parents die. He was always the warmer of her parents, despite never wanting children. Strict, firm, and placing a lot of stress on getting a good education (perhaps because he never received one himself), Daniel has mellowed with recent years. He's getting old and is no longer capable of doing as many things around the farm. Fifty-five years old, birthday is on the 2nd June. Sister: Lanette Brown. Recently engaged, Lane is five years younger than Lavender and they are alike and yet dissimilar. Intelligent and driven, Lane abides by the laws of the country and would not dream of doing anything otherwise. She went to a university her parents were proud of and is studying to get her masters in English, expressing a want to teach at university level. She was engaged and had children rather young, but has not let that really take over anything. Regarded as Lavender's saviour, by her sister, she stumped up money to buy a property in Dartmoor with plenty of room for Lavender to transform, though she doesn't know of that reasoning. She has not yet told her sister she is engaged, as she worries about what Lavender will say. Other family: Christina and Callum Rankin, Lane's two year old twins. Lavender does not really know either of them, but has tried to make up for it by being around them as often as she can, writing letters though she know they can't read them and sending wee gifts. She loves them dearly, but feels like an intruder when Lane, Tina and Callum come to stay. Norma Brown, her paternal grandmother. Norma died recently (December 2007), a heart attack the result of years of splurging on junk food. She was a loving, maternal woman who doted on all of her grandchildren. Lavender reminded Norma of herself and as such they had a special bond--Lavender was absolutely crushed by her death. When she died, she left her house to Lavender and a bit of money as well. Lavender hasn't really been in the house, however, because she's almost frightened to go back there. Other significant relationships Lavender has are with her uncles Chris and Tony Campbell, her cousins Shannon, Brian, Luke, Reggie and John Bryson--though Shannon and Luke are Brown--and her grandfather Terrence Campbell. Her cousins have multiple children, most specifically Lisa, Angela, Courtney, Declan and Anthony (Tony), all of whom she thinks of as her nieces and nephews although that is not strictly the case. External Appearance: Lavender has never been ugly, but she’s always held the plain kind of prettiness that generally gets overlooked. She has extremely odd bone structure, which contributes to the fact she has a distinctly quirky smile, which makes her face look larger than it really is. Lavender regards it as a travesty that her nose is thinner and longer than most other peoples and, from certain angles, looks rather hook nosed. It’s something that causes her great pain to look at and when she was younger she considered plastic surgery or corrective charms. However, over the years, she’s become more and more accustomed to it until she regards it now as one of the most distinctive features she has—and in a good way. Always a wee bit on the midget side, Lavender is rather average in stature, though a bit on the painful side of skinny.. She has brown hair which is generally too frizzy and wavy for her liking; she’d be okay with it if it was curly, or straight, but it has to be in between which annoys her beyond words. She has large, bright eyes which are either grey or blue depending on what light she’s in. Not that she particularly cares, passed the fact that it’s extremely aggravating to have people getting her eye colour confused. She maintains it’s an ocean blue and means it in the literal sense—when the sky colour changes, so does the oceans, and when the sky changes so does her eyes. It’s not a very dramatic change, however, and not noticeable and not even really there. But Lavender says it is, and so it’s obviously something very important. She chooses to ignore the fact that really she just has very, very light brown eyes to back up this theory. Generally Lavender dresses rather casually, in loose clothing. She’s not a fan of anything too tight these days, and nor does she really wear anything that doesn’t cover her arms. The Dark Mark on her left forearm is something she’s incredibly ashamed off and she often tugs at the hem of that sleeve to ensure it is covered. She has a number of scars, all over her body, most noticeably on her stomach and kidneys. Over the years they seem to have faded, but not a lot and they’re still very noticeable. Around her shoulders is also heavily scarred, as that is were Greyback bit her—another reason she rarely if ever wears anything short sleeved. First Impression: Someone uncomfortable in their own skin, generally. Height: Five foot one and a bit. Weight: Underweight Eyes: Blue. Okay, a lie but she likes to think she has blue eyes. In reality, Lav has brown. Hair: Brown. Lavender wears her hair long, generally, though often flirts with the idea of cutting it short and once went around sporting a rather tomboy-ish cut (cropped to her ears). Once her hair gets around chin length the natural wave in it comes out and when it gets any longer? Beware of the frizz, that's all she's saying. Unless serum is applied, Lavender's hair has an awful habit of frizzing the moment there's any humidity in the air. Style of Dress: Lavender rarely wears anything too complicated. She's a fan of jeans--denim is a wonderful material, that allows room for her to move--and jumpers that are a size too big. Black T-shirts dominate her wardrobe, generally with some kind of catchphrase or something on them. She's also fond of band T-shirts, though half the time she's not really a big fan of the band the T-shirt was just about five quid (true of the majority of the band tees she does own). She wears a lot of casual clothing, shying away from anything formal. It's also rare for above mentioned T-shirts to be worn without a long sleeved shirt under them. Lavender rarely wears anything that doesn't cover the entirety of her arms. Internal Personality: One thing has remained constant for Lavender throughout the years and for that she is both grateful and angered—because, after all, what good is having a good heart when you have (or have had) to kill and steal and con just to get by? Still, it’s not something she can rid herself of and, even if it were, she isn’t entirely sure she would even try. Lavender has always tried to do the right thing but the right thing has become somewhat twisted by experiences and nowadays she is more likely to do what is right for her survival and for her family’s survival than what is right for humankind. In some ways, she believes if she was meant in any way to leave a mark on the world then it will happen naturally and she does not need to worry about it—she just needs to let fate run its course. When she was younger, fate was definitely something she believed in wholeheartedly. Living with her head in the clouds, Lavender had vivid dreams of fate and karma and preached that whatever you gave out you got back threefold. Life has hardened her somewhat and she’s less likely to believe such things now than she was at fourteen; she says that she has had first hard experience with not getting things back threefold. Nevertheless Lavender, at heart, still believes that nearly everything happens for a reason and when she cannot come up with one will simply rely on faith to get her through, faith not in a god, but in a higher being. Since Hogwarts Lavender has become less of the ditzy, giggly, gossipy should-be-blonde out of necessity. Firstly, running with werewolves drastically changes ones outlook and being exposed to the atrocities that people who were once human are capable of—and, indeed, taking part in them—tends to take away the ability to see things only in black and white. Consequently Lavender tends to always look for and live in the grey area, because she does not believe that she herself is “Dark” or “Light”. Her beliefs these days are more along the lines of: everyone is born grey and everyone is grey. She has a large amount of respect for people who are heroic, even if it is only in small, everyday ways because it’s not really something she associates with herself and because of that she admires those people above all else. She is not and has never been stupid—however Lavender’s intelligence lies not really in reading, but in people. She’s far more able to read people than she is to read a textbook and this is both a good thing and a bad thing—she can remember, when the war was raging, using it against people and it’s something that sickens her slightly. Something that Lavender struggles with is her self-worth and rather crippling self-doubt but it’s a very private struggle. Rather oddly, the only thing she never doubts is her own decisions—to her mind there’s a very big difference between doubting herself as a person, and doubting decisions she may make. She’s incredibly secretive these days, and doesn’t really like to talk about herself on anything above a superficial level. Lavender is an idealist, but it's hidden behind layers of practicality and attempts to seem down-to-earth. These days, she's quick on her feet and quick to think up a lie; she rarely feels guilty about telling lies to anyone unless she knows them personally. She's flighty and doesn't like to stay in one place for too long, born of a natural xenophilia. Lavender is fascinated by the nuances of different cultures and countries, though rarely actually expresses this. She believes in equality and tries to treat everybody as if they are fundamentally the same, though sometimes she fails greatly. Lavender is impulsive, in nearly all walks of life. She enjoys routine and does indulge in it at times but, really, when it comes down to it the opportunity of breaking that is far too tempting. Added to that, the fact that it's hard in her line of work to really be someone who adheres to a routine at al hours of the day and Lavender seems even more impulsive than she normally would. This trait leads to her making decisions quickly and using mostly her intuition to make these decisions. It's extremely hard for Lavender to change her mind, or get over her initial impression because of this but it's extremely rare that there is any need to, due to the fact that Lavender's intuition has never really proven her wrong yet and has only seemed to get stronger since she was bitten. Lavender has an uncanny knack for noticing details. She has an alert mind, that picks up on the small things, and this has proved useful in the past. Though she by no means has an eidetic memory she doesn't tend to forget the small details of things. Extremely enthusiastic about certain things, Lavender is often at the front of the queue to sign up to new projects. She's a very charismatic person, warm, and is much more interested in the human side of things, than the business; at school and just after it wasn't uncommon for her to act as something of a visionary spokesperson. She's extremely energetic, generally, though tends to get tired around the time of the moon but otherwise? Lavender could probably dance circles around most people. She likes to be in motion and very rarely ever sits still, feeling out of sorts when she does. If she had her way, Lavender would likely be actually dancing at all hours of the day. Quick to laugh, Lavender tries to see the humour in everything and dislikes it when people become to serious. This is not to say that she cannot be serious, herself, or is against introspection but she expects that people should take such introspective periods with at least a bit of humour and be fully aware that she, at least, may tease them about it. She is, really, a very passionate person, who loves life and tries to make the most out of it, wanting each second to count. There's no point in sitting back and moping over things that happened in the past. This said, her past greatly affects Lavender and she sees it as something that has shaped who she is, though not something that should control this. Although she tries not to think about the time she spent in the war and in Azkaban, there are certain personality traits that she has picked up as a result of this—Lavender is extremely paranoid, fearing that there's someone just over her shoulder out to get her. She's extremely uncomfortable with small, cramped spaces and tries to avoid them at all times. This reaction gets worse if the place is dark. A frequent sufferer of nightmares, Lavender is an insomniac and doesn't view sleep as something to be looked forward to. She doesn't really look tired, because she doesn't normally need too much sleep, but the fact is that she's exhausted more often than she lets on but she views it as a weakness so doesn't really speak of it much. Since she was a child, Lavender has had a lot of problems with authority figures. She doesn't like people having any sort of control over her and while it certainly will not cause a panic attack on her end, it will almost certainly make her uncomfortable. She is something of a natural leader, though she pushes that away often, fully capable of acting like she doesn't tend to resent those who have control over her; though she is quick to make it known she doesn't particularly like them. She's not exactly insubordinate, she's just hostile generally when given orders. Political Views: Does not concern herself with politics anymore and doesn’t really care about them anyway. She will, however, support any group that has ideas that loosely agree with her own if they are tolerant towards werewolves. Quirks/Habits: If Lavender can get her feet off the ground she will. She loves being up high, whether it be on a broom, on a rooftop or up a tree. She’s prone to climbing out of the house and sitting on the roof whenever she needs to think, or simply look out at the countryside. She also has a great love of water, rather oddly, and when in human form will walk in the brook at the edge of the property; in wolf form she abhors it. Lavender bites her nails, but only when they’ve gotten so long that they annoy her and she will nearly always paint her nails alternating colours when she can be bothered. She only drinks tea, never coffee, and wears a scarf even in summer—she thinks they’re rather funky. Lavender enjoys painting, though she’s not very good at it, and sketching which she is better at. She’s best at pastels, which she’s glad for—she’s very fond of it. She plays the piano and sings, though not as often as she used to, and she dances whenever she can. She’s a very physically active person and does not like to stay still for very long—watching her it’s not uncommon for her to be drumming her fingers, tapping her foot, playing with her hair etc. Strengths: Lavender is, above all else, extremely resilient and it’s something she has only really learned in recent years. She’s made of tougher stuff than she originally thought even of herself and has the ability to bounce back from just about everything—she does not like, nor tolerate, other people or circumstances trying to knock her back. She has an incredible amount of self-confidence when it comes to her decisions and rarely doubts them; she’s a very decisive person and will not waver over any decision (whether to chose plain chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chocolate chip cookies not counted) . When it comes down to it, Lavender is genuinely kind to people and goes out of her way to help. Lavender has an odd quality to her, which seems to encourage some people to tell her secrets and, oddly enough, she’s really good at keeping them. She has an odd way of speaking, which means she can gossip for a great length of time but manages to do so by gossiping around any real, big secrets. If someone has entrusted their confidence to her, she takes it extremely seriously. Determined, street smart, loving, keen eye for detail, good liar, survivor, good with her hands (once considered being a mechanic), good with herbs and charms. Weaknesses: Lavender has become almost stupidly independent and does not like to rely on anyone. She goes out of her way to try and ensure that no one gets close to her, because she is almost positive that anyone who does will get hurt. Still, when Lavender does get attached to someone it is often an extremely close attachment—she believes that they suddenly become “hers”, which isn’t to say that she treats people as objects, just that she suddenly starts to feel very responsible for them . She’s become extremely paranoid over the years, especially in the past few, and constantly looks over her shoulder—she nearly always appears on edge and jittery, though often tries to put it down to her being “giggly” and “gossipy”. She can be easily easily led at times. She views life as grey and as such rarely believes that people do things without some kind of selfish motivation behind it. She tends to idolise people and put them on a pedestal--perhaps due to the fact she barely knew her sister growing up and now considers Lane her saviour her sister is on one. She hates disappointing people and will go out of her way to ensure that people she cares for are pleased with the outcome of something. Lavender can't really tolerate enclosed spaces for very long; she doesn't particularly like crowds either. She's developed a mild fear of complete darkness, but it is something she can live with. She's extremely, stupidly loyal when it comes down to it, however this loyalty is hard won. A hypocrite at times, has a hard time saying no, selfish at times, even more selfish in her anger. Rarely changes her mind. Fears and Philias: Lavender is terrified of horses—or rather horse riding. She’s nervous and jittery around them, very unlikely to get closer than is ever needed. She’s also extremely claustrophobic. She’s not a very good swimmer, though she loves the water. Hobbies/Interests: Lavender loves and adores karaoke beyond logical comprehension and will hasten to add that she is quite good at it. She’s a fan of archer and athletics, particularly track and high jump and always has been. Unfortunately—in her eyes—she is not able to participate in high jump anymore though others would regard it as a blessing as she was never particularly good at it. Lavender is also a fan of what is dubbed “kitchen chemistry”. She’s always enjoyed horse-riding, though that’s not really a viable option at the moment, is a great football player (in her own opinion), dancing and basically anything that is able to give her a bit of an adrenaline rush—she went hang gliding once and while it’s not a hobby, if she could do it often she would. She also is an enthusiastic photographer, if not a particularly talented one. Favourite Belongings: A cross necklace which her mother gave her for her twentieth birthday, quite a few cardboard boxes filled with photographs of different times and people throughout her life. Her grandmother’s wedding ring is worn on a chain around her neck. Favourite Places: Her parents farm in the Cotswolds. It’s home, if nothing else. The Dartmoor property. It’s large, it’s beautiful in an odd way, and it’s largely hers—she’s paying off the bit Lane owns. London. Lavender loves the city and the vibrancy of it, and the danger of walking through the streets at night. Pretty much any forest. She loves nature and feels at home there, for quite a number of reason. Secrets: *Lavender will almost certainly never be able to have children. She was devastated, initially, when she discovered this because she is quite maternal and always wanted a chance to bring up children (part of her insists that this is so she can be a better mother than her own) but has come to accept it. Because of this can be a bit odd around children, or pregnant women. *Attempts to keep her experiences during the war and Azkaban secret. She doesn't particularly mind telling people she was there (though she'll never offer it up apropos of nothing) but she won't talk about what it was like if she can help it. It's a trust thing. *While she isn't depressed and doesn't get depressed--hasn't for months--Lavender has specific drugs she's supposed to take for depression. She doesn't. Her doctor isn't pleased. History Ellie and Daniel Brown were not supposed to have any children—it was something they decided on the moment they got married. Both of them had grown up part of large families and neither had appreciated it—indeed, both had ended up hating children. When Ellie fell pregnant, nine years into their marriage, the only thing that kept them from aborting was Ellie’s personal beliefs. Raised a Catholic, and a devout one at that, Ellie could not bring herself to abort and as such Lavender was born, to two slightly bewildered parents who had already decided that they would raise their child as best they could and not ever let her know that she wasn’t exactly wanted in the first place. They didn’t, either. Lavender was raised supposedly ignorant of the fact that she wasn’t exactly wanted but, as with all children raised like that, she had an inkling. There was something she knew was missing and it annoyed her, aggravated her, and left her spending rather a lot of time on her own as a young child. Despite all appearances, Lavender grew up wandering the countryside and spending a lot of time on her own. She never expected to have any siblings. Being sent to the local Muggle primary school, she had enough sense to quickly realise that her parents didn’t like children. They never looked at any other kids with anything but fear and wariness in their faces, they never let her have anyone over and they were cold, though unknowingly, towards her. Because of this, Lavender started becoming more outgoing, talking brightly and at length to nearly everyone to try and make up for the fact she barely saw anyone outside school. When her mother became pregnant again, when Lavender was eight, it was a large shock and she honestly expected her mother to abort but again Ellie’s conscience and religious beliefs prevented this. Lanette Brown was born and her older sister absolutely hated her name and told her parents they were cruel for naming her such a thing, before informing them her name was atrocious as well. Lanette quickly became Ette, then Laney, then Lane and Lavender was happy to find a name she didn’t hate. Quickly she became rather fond of the younger girl and then, just as Lane was moving past the boring baby stage, a strange letter arrived at the Brown family home. Lavender was distrustful of the thing and honestly believed it was a lot of crap. She was the one to find it, too, so binned it. When another one came, her mother was the first to read it and binned it also, thinking it was a joke from some of the locals in the village. Then, when three more came at the same time, Daniel Brown became convinced it was the truth and over the course of the summer Lavender had to put up with her mother’s frequent freak outs. Ellie Brown, who had always believed that there was no such thing as witchcraft, quickly became convinced that her daughter most be evil, then, and there was talk of exorcisms and everything of the ilk—Lavender woke up one morning to find her mother throwing holy water over her. This, obviously, was not something she shared with anyone, though the entire Brown family heard due to the screaming argument that Lavender and her mother had about it at the time and the screaming arguments they’ve had since when she mentioned it. It was quite obviously not something she shared at school—in fact, Lavender went in determined not to tell anyone about her home life. She went about this an odd way, however. When most people don’t want others to know something, they don’t talk much—when Lavender doesn’t want people to know something she talks even more and generally she got bubblier, gigglier. She found that the best way to keep attention off things like how she grew up and why she was in Hogwarts, which in her first year was a big topic, was to babble inanely and to talk about other people, to talk about them and why they were there. It was the first step towards putting up walls that were hard to get passed and at the time, Lavender didn’t even really think about it. Despite the fact that quite a number of her classmates had eventful year after eventful year the majority of Lavender’s school career was spent doing what was expected of her—being a schoolgirl. She gossiped and giggled, talked about fashion and boys, and fell out with far too many friends and then made up with them again. She spent the majority of her time at Hogwarts being a typical teenager and she isn’t ashamed of that whatsoever—she’s rather proud of being one of the few that did. Or so it seems, anyway. She’s rather sure there were others but no one is really up for admitting it, poor things. In her fifth year the DA was set up and Lavender willingly joined. While she had originally doubted Potter’s story of Voldemort rising again she realised quite quickly that he wouldn’t lie about something like that—and that Hermione wouldn’t have been so willing to believe him if it didn’t have some grain of truth to it. Come the end of the year, Lavender had learnt rather a lot and also learnt that while she was never going to be the best at anything, she could be good if she put her mind to it. She wasn’t present at the Department of Mysteries, for which she is both slightly resentful and grateful. She knows that she would probably not have been ready for it, yet she was slightly hurt that she wasn’t considered good enough to be asked to be there. Nevertheless, she didn’t exactly hold any grudges and soon there were more important things to worry about. Sixth year passed rather quickly and no matter what anyone thought, Lavender spent a good majority of her time studying. That summer, when war was declared, Lavender made the conscious decision not to tell her parents. Her mother, she was sure, wouldn’t care anyway—yes, she knew that her mother still loved her but Ellie had never managed to get passed the fact that her daughter was a witch and this was all part of the wizarding world, after all—and her father would be interested in her finishing her education. As such, Lavender returned to school and found herself one of the few that had returned to the school. Alone, without the majority of her friends Lavender began to apply herself to her schoolwork and quickly found herself excelling in ways she hadn’t before. She is pretty sure this is because Hermione and a number of the others didn’t return, but she’s still proud of it. As one of the few students left at Hogwarts and one of the eldest, Lavender was also one of those that ensured that the DA kept running. A lot of the learning she did that year was through the small group, whose numbers had got even smaller with what seemed to be a mass exodus from the school. She did rather well on her NEWTs and thinks that she did much better than she would have if she continued the way she had been going. Of course, her test scores did not really help her much afterwards. Upon completing her education, Lavender joined with the Order. There was only a brief time during which she was an active member of the Order of the Phoenix, however, as during one of the very first battles she was at Lavender was bitten by Fenrir Greyback. Lavender panicked, instantly, and the first thing she did was up and leave her flat in London and return home. She didn’t move from her childhood home, a farm in the Cotswolds until after her second full moon; she was frightened to. The first person she told about it looked at her in disgust. The second treated her like she was lower than dirt and the third spat at her. All of these people, each and every one of them, were aligned with the Light. Lavender, angry at them, turned from the Light and turned towards Greyback. In her mind, it was the only thing that seemed like a viable option. The change was painful, she fought it, she didn’t understand any of it and now everyone seemed to be turning against her and at least Greyback knew and understood. It was the first step towards turning to the Dark. The second was on her fourth moon, when she stayed with Greyback. That moon she attacked someone accidentally and despite how bad she felt afterwards, it was all reasoned away. It was all reasoned away, because it had been during a battle and they were being attacked and she needed to defend herself, right? It was reasoning such as that which kept Lavender fighting with the Dark, and because they accepted her. Sure, a lot of them looked down upon her because of her werewolf status but at the same time, she knew—or that that she knew—that the Light would look at her even worse, would treat her like scum. Come the end of the war, Lavender had become disillusioned, harder. There was no reason to be anything else and when she heard that they were trying every Death Eater, she panicked and tried to flee originally. She got to the Chanel Tunnel and then turned back and handed herself in. She didn’t figure that it would make her sentence any shorter, but it did somewhat and she was grateful for that, grateful beyond words, when she finally spent some time in Azkaban. It was everything she’d been told, and worse, and every minute she was there Lavender spent hating herself for the decisions she’d made that put her there. Some people go insane in Azkaban—or, rather, most go insane in Azkaban—and Lavender missed out simply because by that point the Ministry had started to regulate the number of Dementors—quite a number had simply disappeared, swallowed in the ranks of Voldemort’s army during the war. Lavender was released from Azkaban prison in the middle of September, 2007, ahead of schedule due to good behaviour. Her sister, Lane, and her grandmother Norma were those that came to meet her. Her grandmother was the only one in the Brown family who had a clue about magic--drawn into the family via marriage, Norma was a Squib who came from a line that had shunned her for this. She had been careful not to tell anyone, the only reason Lavender found it being because the older woman trusted her granddaughter not to blab about it. The day that Ven was picked up from Azkaban, Lane also learned of her grandmother's magic--it was impossible to remain ignorant when there was the evidence staring her in the face. She'd already been told that no one who was not magical could go through the barriers and walls like Norma did that day. The first thing Lavender did was hug the two women who had came to find her, the second cry--or she tried to anyway. She couldn't, though, and confused she returned to her grandmother's house (she did not want her parents to see her in the state she was in, a look to her that would give Ellie Brown a heart attack). Lane squeezed her fingers, told her she'd visit the next day, and left her. Lavender did not cry that night--the only real time she cried during that week was when Norma had left to go visit a friend, when she could be sure that she would not be caught. It took over a month for Lavender to settle down. She suffered regularly from night terrors, nightmares so horrific that she'd wake screaming. Eventually, she hexed the room so that Norma wouldn't wake. Due to her inability to sleep properly, she became something of an insomniac and spent the time when she should have been sleeping making plans to build a better life for herself. She promised herself that she'd not get drawn into the criminal world again--or at least not do anything that went against her morals, strictly. She promised herself that she would never do anything as bad as when she was a Death Eater and that she would never again hurt a person when she was a wolf. She forced herself to take Wolfsbane, despite its foul taste, and locked herself in a basement, hating that she didn't trust herself enough to just let herself roam. In November, Lavender started seriously working on getting a job. She had no luck. Nowhere seemed to want to take her, wary of taking on anyone who had a criminal record instantly and then downright horrified that someone with her particular criminal record would dare ask for a job. Eventually, she became so desperate that she gladly allowed herself to be brought into the ranks of the Network, though admittedly it wasn't exactly gladly at first. According to the one who had brought her in, Reggie Lovell, she had been unwittingly helping them for weeks, under the guise of dropping things 'round to a few friends' flats for Reggie. Lavender couldn't decide whether to be angry or not and when they told her that she could make money from doing this, from helping them, she bit her tongue and simply agreed to it. Norma, who had introduced Reggie and Lavender with knowledge of the connection that could happen (she herself had been a part of the Network, though not terribly active), was if not approving of the it then at least she trusted Lavender enough to know what she was doing. A week before her death, Norma heard Ven's promise to not do anything that went against her code of honour and then forced her to swear on Norma's own life. When Norma died, of a sudden and unexpected heart attack, Lavender was shocked. Shocked and so horrified at the thought of staying in the London house without Norma there that she instantly moved out. Lane who had recently purchased a house in Dartmoor, complete with land. Lavender forced a sum of money upon her sister to pay some of it; Lane took it begrudgingly and has been using it to pay the mortgage for a while. Since then, December 2007, Lavender has been working for the Network. She flits about from job to job, dabbling in a bit of everything. She's smuggled things from England to Ukraine--which was the trip of a lifetime--has dealt desperate people drugs, feeling disgusted as their desperate fingers claw the drugs out of her hand, and has managed to steal things without getting caught (or knocking anything over in the process). However, the one main thing she keeps coming back to is counterfeiting. Lavender's keen eye for small details and ability to pick up on things others deem not so important has allowed her to duplicate things down to the very last detail. She has a steady hand and is a perfectionist; counterfeiting, she's surprised to note, is rather a talent of hers. Nonetheless, despite this she's still searching for a legitimate job. Crime doesn't pay particularly well when you're not a bigshot. Trivia Random facts * Speaks English, French and Spanish, though her Spanish can be awful at times and is not conversational--sounds very stiff and formal when she does speak it. * Is a xenophile and deeply loves to travel. * Went horse-riding as a child and loved it. She was rather good and entered into a few competitions. However, at age nine was thrown from the horse and instead of getting back up and onto the horse like you're supposed to, Lavender allowed herself to be frightened. She never got back on the horse and to this day is terrified of them. * Basically a night owl. * Depending on the time of month Lavender either loves to have her feet as high off the ground or as possible or as close to the ground. The closer it gets to the moon the more she likes being closer to the ground. However, it's natural for her to like being off the ground. * Has family in France and spent a good deal of the summers in her younger years there. * Has a beautiful singing voice. * Likes mopping, but despises brushing. * Dislikes being inside more than is necessary and often sits in her garden. Nearly went crazy in Azkaban because she was locked in a cell--passed the time by counting the tiles on the roof, on the floor, scratching symbols, signs and words into tiles. * Writes titles on things in red pen, dates, numbers, etc. in black and blocks of text in blue pen. Always. Never any exceptions. * Gets down on her hands and knees when stressed and cleans the kitchen, then the bathroom. Cleans out her attic whenever feeling particularly anxious. * Collects photographs like others collect stamps. * Could quite happily live in her pyjamas, although never wears matching ones and considers it something of a crime. She also considers the fact that people have electric toothbrushes as a crime and is quick to call them lazy buggers. * Likes children well enough, although they frighten her rather a lot of the time because she doesn't get the way their mind works. She's also aware that it's highly unlikely she will ever have a child; is grateful for this because fears she'll pass on her lycanthropy. * Gets motion sickness, yet her favourite way of travel is by boat or ferry. * Lavender was never claustrophobic and never thought she would be until she got out of Azkaban. It wasn't really possible to be so at the place, due to the confinement of the cell, and it was more a case of just getting on with it because that way the days went quicker. However, once she was out she accidentally got stuck in the hall closet and began to panic and scream. Friend from childhood, Aaron Peters, opened the door eventually and she vomited spectacularly all over him. * Reads a lot of trashy novels. Not necessarily romance ones, but basically anything trashy. Always goes for the books with the brightest coloured covers. She also has a secret love of sci-fi. * Detests the colour yellow beyond all rhyme or reason. * Speaks with a very distinctive accent, typical of the Cotswolds area. * Has and always has had extremely good aim and balance, a result of archery and gymnastics as a child. * Despite her behaviour in Hogwarts tends to get along better with males than females, never entirely sure as to why and doesn't particularly want to analyse it. * Has a very high pain threshold and a strong stomach. * Is a real farmgirl at heart and would feel extremely weird if she wasn't on one. * Really loves to dance and really loves music. Tends to listen to jazz or old rock music--as in rock music from before 1995--and doesn't see why some people look at her oddly for this combination. * Birthday is on the 21st November. Born on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius--embodies a lot of traits from both signs. Lavender quite likes the fact that this makes her "unique" in her own mind at least. * Suffers from insomnia, claustrophobia, mild fear of the dark, nightmares, and a victim of PTSD. She received some kind of treatment in Azkaban, though the majority of the treatment she underwent was after she was released, under Norma's insistence. Likes to think she's over it, and mostly is though PTSD takes years to get over and she's not there yet. The Gryffindor Scorpio (October 23 - November 21) The Scorpion. Fixed, water, yin - planetary rulers: Mars and Pluto. Keywords: "I DESIRE" Scorpio is the eighth house of the Zodiac and governs the genitalia. Positive traits include magnetic charisma, ambition, drive, a penetrating mind, curiosity, intensity of focus, emotional depth, consistency, persistence, willpower, and the potential for inner transformation and regeneration; negative traits include selfishness, obsessiveness, vindictiveness, hypersensitivity, ruthlessness, cynicism, an inability to understand the word "moderation," and jealousy. It is said that Scorpios embody both the best and the worst of all that are born under the stars, and that there are three kinds of Scorpios: wicked scorpions, cunning serpents, and saintly eagles. What each Scorpio becomes is entirely up to that Scorpio. Expect stamina, incredible courage, intense and stormy emotions, burning idealism, and indomitable will. Gryffindor Scorpios are never drawn in shades of pastel; they are always blood red and mesmerizing gold. There are few followers born under these aspects; Scorpios born into this house tend to be either leaders or loners. They are well placed on the Quidditch field, where their natural competitive streak and their great store of personal energy make them natural Beaters (or, really, naturals at any position on the field). Expect them to get into frequent duels, and expect them to gravitate naturally to DADA, for all Scorpios are fascinated by anything dark and forbidden, and Gryffindor Scorpios will want to take their place as defenders as early in their careers as possible. Expect passion. Expect wisdom. But don't expect a lot of time to take a breather. Many people born under this aspect also end up as Aurors; they're the perfect "bad cops" to the "good cop" Libra wizards. Meta Journal: paintedonthesky PB: Nora Zehetner Player: Ruth Category: Characters Category: The network Category: Supernatural